impoverish
/ɪmˈpɒv(ə)ɹɪʃ/
"impoverish" is a 10-letter English headword indexed on PlainSpell.
The verdict
“impoverish” is outside the top-ranked English vocabulary, used as a verb - the kind of word writers most often double-check.
- Unranked
- below top-frequency English
- 10
- letters
According to Wiktionary data (CC BY-SA, analyzed May 6, 2026) - To make poor.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Headword | impoverish |
| Language | English |
| Part of speech | Verb |
| IPA | /ɪmˈpɒv(ə)ɹɪʃ/ |
| Letters | 10 |
| Misspellings tracked | 0 |
| Confusable pairs | 0 |
| Source | Wiktionary (kaikki.org) |
Where “impoverish” sits in English frequency
Spelling & Dictionary Insight
The English entry for impoverish is 10 letters long, classified as a verb, and transcribed in the International Phonetic Alphabet as /ɪmˈpɒv(ə)ɹɪʃ/. It sits outside the most-frequent rank tiers, which is often why uncommon words generate more spelling variants per reader. Wiktionary records 3 distinct senses for this headword, so context determines which meaning a reader should apply.
Our edit-distance generator produced no likely misspellings for impoverish, which points to an orthography that plays by predictable English rules. It is not paired with a close-neighbour confusable in our dataset, a sign it's visually distinctive enough not to be mixed up with another word.
Etymologically, the entry records: From Middle English empoverishen, impoverishen, empoverischen, enpoverisshen, Anglo-Norman empoveriss-, from Old French empoverir, from em- + povre, from Latin pauper (“poor”) (English poor). The correct English form is impoverish, spelled I-M-P-O-V-E-R-I-S-H.
Definition
- 1To make poor.
- 2To weaken in quality; to deprive of some strength or richness.
- 3To become poor.
Etymology
From Middle English empoverishen, impoverishen, empoverischen, enpoverisshen, Anglo-Norman empoveriss-, from Old French empoverir, from em- + povre, from Latin pauper (“poor”) (English poor).
Antonyms
This word in other languages
Definitions, pronunciation, and etymology for this entry are drawn from Wiktionary via the kaikki.org structured extract (CC BY-SA). See the methodology for how each field is sourced and updated.
Frequently Asked Questions
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Using “impoverish”
The practical upshot for anyone who landed here from a spell-check.
- The one correct English spelling is I-M-P-O-V-E-R-I-S-H - every other letter order is a misspelling in standard orthography.
- Say it as /ɪmˈpɒv(ə)ɹɪʃ/ (IPA); tap the speaker on the pronunciation badge to hear it where audio exists.
- Browse more English words and confusable pairs in the same reference. English words
Data Source
Wiktionary (via kaikki.org), licensed under CC BY-SA & GFDL. Word ordering uses an open word-frequency list; misspelling variants are generated by edit-distance from the correct headword.